By Benjamin Pimentel and Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Technology stocks retreated
Wednesday, as the broad market sank after reported comments from a
European Union official about the state of Japan's nuclear
disaster.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) fell 1.5% to 2,628, and the
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) shed 198 points, or 1.7%, to
11,659.
The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) lost 2%, and the
Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was down 1.6%.
Shares IBM Corp. slipped 3.9% becoming the biggest decliner
among Dow components. Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi
also downgraded IBM's rating to market perform from outperform.
Also in the red were shares of Microsoft Corp.(MSFT) , down
2.3%, and Intel Corp. (INTC) , which was off 1.7%.
Shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) slid almost 4% after JMP Securities
analyst Alex Gauna downgraded the stock to market perform from
market outperform.
Gauna said an Apple manufacturing partner in Asia was showing
sales-growth deceleration even before the devastating Japan
quake.
On Tuesday, Apple announced it was delaying the launch of its
iPad 2 tablet in Japan.
Meanwhile, shares of Nvidia Corp. (NVDA), Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) and
Altera Corp. (ALTR) posted gains.
Shares of Rambus Inc. (RMBS) also gained more than 3% a day
after the chip-design company said it had renewed a patent license
agrement with Toshiba Corp. Shares of Toshiba (TOSYY) dropped more
than 11%.